


Kataang Oneshot Collection

by Ziebelzubel



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-14 05:21:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15381564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ziebelzubel/pseuds/Ziebelzubel
Summary: A sweet little collection of fluffy Kataang Oneshots. Be warned though, I write pretty cheesy stuff most of the time xD If you're not into that kind of stuff I won't blame you for leaving immediately. If you're brave enough, have fun, my dear Kataangists! ;)





	1. The Avatar's Love

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there!  
> Just to make sure you really got it: Most of the stuff I'm going to post here is pretty cheesy in one way or another, so be prepared for that. I've got a few Oneshots done already, so I'll be able to upload new chapters pretty quick if I see that you guys like them, but I didn't dare to write smutty stuff yet xD Maybe I'll try one day. Until then, have fun with the innocent, fluffy stuff ;)  
> Oh, one last thing: Please keep in mind that I'm not a native speaker, I was almost asleep when I wrote most of it and I originally wasn’t planning on publishing it, so you will find some REALLY strange sentences xD  
> Oh, and like everyone who writes stuff I'd LOVE some feedback, I'd love to write some better stuff one day ;)  
> Thanks in advance and have fun with my cheesy stuff :)

“But I’m not tired yet!” The six year old nonbender sat upright in his bed, his arms crossed in front of his chest, pouting.

His mother only laughed, cupping his cheek with her hand, gently stroking it with her thumb. “Come on, sweetie. You know it’s time to go to sleep. It’s getting really late and there is a lot to do tomorrow.”

“But I don’t wanna! I wish Dad was here.” Everytime she heard one of her children mention their father while he was gone made her shudder and filled her tender, loving view with sadness and remorse. She missed him too, whenever he was on one of his trips to save the world. Of course, everytime he returned, they had a great time together as a family, but inbetween days like these, he was gone for days, sometimes even weeks. She forced a loving smile and stroked through his dark brown hair that kept sticking out haphazardly, no matter what they tried to fix it. He looked really sad right now, his legs pulled to his chest, holding them close against his upper body with his arms. “I know, sweetie. I miss him, too. But you know what?”, She asked with a motivating voice, trying to cheer her son up, “he will be back in no time. And the more you sleep, the faster the time will go by until he returns. And when he’s here, you two will do something really special together while I take care of Kya. Sounds good?”

Her son only nodded. “I suppose…”

She kept smiling to cover up her own sadness. “Good night, sweetie. Tomorrow’s gonna be a new day, alright?”

He sighed and nodded, laying down and facing the wall. She knew that he missed his father and felt bad about it, but she also knew that her son had to tell her if he wanted to talk. He was pretty stubborn if someone interrogated him. He only talked when he was the one initiating it. Now, all he seemed to want was some time alone, so she reluctantly stood up and went towards the door.

“Mommy?”

As she turned around, he was sitting up again, rubbing his eye.

“Yes, sweetie?”, She asked nervously, feeling that he was all other than alright.

“Does…”, he sobbed, his lip trembling slightly, “does Dad still love us? Love me?”

Her jaw dropped and her eyes brimmed with sadness and tears as she heard the serious doubt in her son’s voice. “Oh Bumi…” She sprinted to his direction, sitting next to him in his bed, opening her arms. “Come here, sweetie. Listen to me, okay?” He directly climbed into his mother’s arms, resting his head against her bosom, sobbing silently while listening to his mother’s soozing voice. She began to speak quietly, in all her seriousness.

“Oh Bumi… I know it’s hard when your father is gone. I miss him, too. So much. But you know, Daddy’s the Avatar.”

He nodded slowly. “I know that.”

“I know you need him, love. It’s hard to accept, but the world needs him, too. He saves so many lives, every time he leaves. As much as he is your dad, he is also a very important person to maintain peace in the world.”

“I… I understand.”, He answered coldly.

“It’s okay to be sad about it, honey. And I don’t expect you to understand it yet. But look at me for a second, Bumi.” He looked up to his mother and his eyes locked with her’s.

“I beg you to believe me what I’m about to say, sweetie. Your father loves you and your sister more than anything else in this world. He would die to protect us. I understand that you can’t see that yet, but he is a hero.”

“You… You really think so?”

Her eyes softened again as she tightened the tender hug she shared with her son, rocking him in her arms to make him feel more comfortable. “I know it. If there is one thing I know for sure, it’s that Daddy loves us more than anything.”

“Okay, Mommy.”, He whispered, his voice muffled while his face was still pressed gently against his mother’s upper body. “I believe you.”

“You feel better now, sweetie?”, She asked with her calm, gentle voice.

He slowly loosened up, looking up to her and gave her a sweet smile. “Yeah, I think so. Thanks, Mommy.” He yawned. “I think, I’ll go to bed now.”

She smiled at her son, tugged him in and kissed his forehead in a loving manner. “Good night, sweetie. I love you. And Daddy loves you, too.”

He cracked a smile as he buried himself into his sheets. “Good night, Mommy.”

She smiled and turned away to the door, only to be stopped halfway one last time. “Mom?”

She turned around. “Yes, Bumi?”

“I hope Dad returns soon.”

She smiled warmly at her son before closing the door to his room behind her. “I hope so, too, sweetie.”


	2. Relief

"Oh, so you think you can do a better job, Momo?", Sokka asked grumpily after Momo made an obivously sassy lemur remark on Sokka's art skills.

"Hey, my belly is not that big anymore, I really trimmed down!" Now it was Iroh who was complaining. He was right though, he wasn't nearly as heavy as he used to be. 

"I think you all look perfect!" Surprisingly it was Toph who yelled that out loud, causing me and everyone else to laugh. 

Everyone except one. Aang, the Avatar, savior of the world, bringer of balance and great bridge between the worlds, had turned around and left the shop. "I'm... I'm going after him", I whispered. Hopefully he was alright... But he didn't seem unhappy for the last few days. Just... Restless. Restless and exhausted from the fight that had decided the fate of the world. 

When I had left the shop, closing the door behind me, I recognized the absolute silence that surrounded us. He just stood there at the edge of the patio in front of the tea shop, overviewing the whole city of Ba Sing Se and the setting sun. I couldn't see his face, but I could feel the pride and happiness in his eyes as he contemplated his work. A world in peace, in balance- at least for the moment.

He didn't turn around as I approached into his direction, he didn't have to. I knew that he knew it was me. He heard my steps, that was all he needed to know. I came closer and stood next to him, watching the giant city glistening in the last beams of sunlight for the day.

I turned to face him. He faced me. I blushed. I just couldn't help it. No word was spoken until then. He looked so good all of the sudden. He certainly wasn't the goofy little kid from the iceberg anymore. He was the savior of the world. He was strong now. And wise. And handsome. 

I touched his shoulder and opened my arms to offer him a loving hug. Over the last months I kinda developed a sense for when he needed a hug from me. The last hug we had shared was weeks ago, even before he fought the Fire Lord. I didn't even have to focus to sense that he needed one. He practically screamed for it. And to be totally honest- I did, too.

"Katara...", He whispered, as he hugged me tightly and burried his head in the crook of my neck. "I... I..." His voice broke and he started crying. I've seen and heard Aang cry a few times so far, but this was nothing like any of it. I could feel him loosen up inside my arms as his tears moistened my shoulder. It was a really strange feeling; hearing him cry so hard almost broke my heart, but on the other hand I could feel the relief spreading through his entire body. There had been so much pressure put on his shoulders and so many feelings and thoughts had been bottling up inside of him, only to be released now, in my arms, crying it all out at once. He needed this. And even though it twisted my stomach to see him cry, it made me feel happy to be the only one he trusted enough to let his deepest emotions out.

"It's okay", I whispered in his ear while I closed my arms around his back, fighting back tears on my own. "Let it all out." I wanted to hold him forever. Hold him in my arms and protect him from anyone who would dare to disturb this intimate situation. I wanted to see him and feel him and hear him. He was the most important person in my life and the fear to lose him in a fight against the baddest man on the planet finally made it clear to me. I loved him. I loved him more than anything. I loved him and I would love him forever. 

He held me and I held him as we revealed all of our emotions, all of our feelings for each other as we cried out all our insecurities, all the charges of the last few months. We finally did it. He finally did it. His duty to the world was done. Now there was peace. Peace and quiet. 

And love. So much love.

I felt him loosen his arms from around my torso, so I let him go, too. He smiled at me and his eyes, despite being reddened and blurred with tears, emittet something I've never seen from him before. Pure happiness. Pure, blissful, unconditional felicity. No pressure. Just happiness.

My cheeks burned from sensation. I couldn't fight it anymore. I closed my eyes and I finally did it. I kissed him. My stomach unraveled as I felt his soft lips brush against mine. Our kiss deepened, as if it was the only shot we would ever get to express how we felt about each other. We simply couldn't get away from each other now. So much remained unspoken. We physically had no other choice than to deepen our kiss, being completely carried away by our feelings right now.

He passionately grabbed my waist, almost collapsing into my touch as I placed my hands on his jaw, feeling the still soft skin of his face under my fingers. I needed him closer. My arms automatically wandered around his neck and hugged him yet again, only to draw him closer to me. I could feel his heart beating against my own chest by now. We couldn't be any closer. And, spirits, it felt so right.

That was when I finally realized. I finally realized that I never wanted to let go of him again. I loved him. I loved the Avatar. The bringer of balance. Aang. My Aang.

And he loved me, too.


	3. Celestial Advice

It was midnight when she left the village, climbed on top of the highest hill around and sat down, looking up to the sky. The sky was clear, no clouds whatsoever, only thousands upon thousands of twinkling stars and the full moon, sitting enthroned majestically in the sky.

She took a meditation pose and closed her eyes. She wasn't really good at meditating; Aang was way better. But they had been practicing together and he told her one or two tricks to help her get better soon. She felt the shallow moonlight on her face, soaking in its presence. She thought intensely at the moon. "Yue...", She murmured. "I need your advice. I summon you, moon spirit." She knew summoning a spirit could be really dangerous, but she knew Yue and if there was one spirit who wouldn't, or rather couldn't be angry with her, it was her.

"Hello, Katara.", A silent, soothing voice called her name. Katara left her eyes closed. "You can open your eyes now."

There she sat, in front of her, on her knees, looking nothing like a spirit, except for the faint glow emitting from her skin and clothing. Her big, blue eyes looked at Katara and she smiled. "You called for me, my friend. What is it that you need?"

Katara sighed. "Hello, Yue. I... I need your advice. It's so stupid, but... But I had nowhere to go to. I don't have that much girlfriends and you have more experience in that than anyone I know."

"Katara, if this is important to you, it's important to me, too. It's so nice to talk to a human being again, let alone to a former friend of mine... So please. Tell me." Her voice was as calm and gentle as ever.

"Well...", Katara couldn't help but blush, looking to the ground. "I... Well... I'm getting married.", she stated while tugging down the collar of her coat, revealing a beautifully crafted betrothal necklace.

Yue read her face and nodded slowly. "I... I'm sorry to hear that, Katara. I know what that feels like."

Her eyes quickly wandered up to Yue's, and she blushed even more. "What? No! Sorry, I guess I didn't make myself clear enough..." Yue looked kinda confused. "I love him. More than anything in the whole world."  
Yue's features softened again and she smiled happily, yet regretfull of her own experiences. "That's great, Katara! My congratulations. Do I know him? Is it somebody from the water tribes?", She inquired curiously.

Katara grinned as she thought about him. "No...", she said dreamingly. "It's Aang."

Yue's eyes began to glow. "The... The Avatar? That's so great for you! I didn't even know you two were..."

"Oh, we weren't when we met you the first time. But a lot has changed since the end of the war."

Yue nodded. "It has indeed." She paused for a second before reaching towards Katara to take a look at her second necklace, the one Aang had made for her for his proposal. "It's beautiful." The waterbender nodded. "It is. Aang worked so hard on it."

"You love him sincerely, I can feel that.", Yue calmly spoke, "But why do you need my advice? Aren't you happy that you two are getting married?"

Katara's voice felt unsteady and  
again. "I am, I really am. There is nothing I want more than to marry him. He's the love of my life."

"So where's the problem?"

"It's just... There are so many expectations. He's an important political persona in the world. I guess being the Avatar's wife brings a lot of responsibility with itself..."

"You're so strong and independant, Katara.", Yue whispered. "And you're the daughter of a clan chief. I know that you will do fine."

"Yeah, but that's not everything I'm worried about. Being married also implies... Having children, right?"

"Don't you want children?"

"I do!", She laughed. "That's the funny part. I would love to have a family and become a Mom. Even more with Aang. I have no doubt that he will be an amazing father. But... He's the last airbender. If he dies one day, the airbenders do, too. That is except..."

"...except if you two manage to have some airbender children...", Yue completed her sentence, understanding what she means. Tears rose up to Katara's eyes. "I want this so much. I want children and I want to make Aang happy. I know that this would be the greatest for him. His culture would live on. But what if... What if I don't manage to give birth to an airbender? Or even worse, to any child? He would be devastated...", She cried, tears running down her cheeks. "I don't want to disappoint him."

"Oh, sweetie.", Yue comforted her, touching her shoulders and hugging her with her spirity figure. "I'm sure he loves you enough to not make demands to you. What will happen, will happen. I don't think he would be mad with you if you didn't manage to give birth to an airbender. It's nothing you have an influence on. Either you'll do- or you won't. He knows that you will do everything to have his children, but even If you failed, which won't Happen, but even if, He would still be on your side. Let me tell you something, Katara. I knew what it's like to be married, or at least betrothed to someone you don't love while the one you really love is forbidden to you. I understand why you feel so much pressure. But let me tell you one thing: If the one you're going to marry, to Share your Life with and to have children with, is the one you truly love, no matter what, and if he loves you unconditionally, there is nothing that can endanger your marriage. If you love each other from the bottom of your Hearts, which I know you do, you will withstand even the worst storms that one day may come over you. But you shouldn't worry, Katara. I'm absolutely sure that you will have a wonderful Life together with lots and lots of airbending babies. As long as this is what you truly want." Katara nodded slowly, her eyes shining with hope and love. "It is. That's all I ever wanted."

Yue smiled gently at her as she withdraw from the hug. "I think you will be very fine, future wife of the Avatar.", She grinned. "Unfortunately, I have to go now, Katara. I have important moon duties to take care of."

"Of course.", the waterbender said understandingly. "Thank you so much for everything, Yue. You really helped me."

"You're very welcome. But there's one thing I need to ask you, before I go."

"Of course, everything."

"How... How's Sokka? Is he doing well? Is he happy?", She asked emotionally before slowly ascending to the sky.

Katara smiled as she thought about her brother and his yet small family. He had married Suki not half a year ago and she was pregnant. "He is."

Yue nodded while a single tear, maybe a tear of relief or of regretfullness, ran down her cheek, simply smiling. "That's all I want. Goodbye, Katara.", She whispered before she resolved into thin air, connecting with her moonly self yet again. Katara smiled and thought about what Yue had said. They would do just fine.


	4. Realization

She opened her eyes, awaking from a light sleep with a cruel feeling of sickness building up in her stomach. All of the sudden she lept up from her bed onto her feet, sprinting to the door of the bedroon she spared with her husband, running through the hallway to their bathroom, kneeling in front of the wooden pot where they usually went to the toilet, throwing up inside it. Her stomach was twisting with pain while she held it, growling with discomfort. Where did that come from? 

She breathed quite heavily, trying to regain control over her body again. As she didn't manage to hold the contents of her stomach back again, cold shudders went down her spine. She felt dirty and she felt sick.

"Sweetie, are you alright?" It was Aang who stood in the doorframe of their bathroom, watching his wife feel sick over and over again, tremendously concerned. Before she could answer something, she wouldn't even know how to answer anyway because obviously she wasn't alright, he entered the room and knelt next to her, holding her hair and caressing her back with his hand to calm her down.

"Katara, what's wrong? Did you eat something bad?"

She shook her head. "I don't know, Aang... I'm not feeling so well..."

"Do you think that was all of it?", He whispered with great concern in his voice, pressing his wife against his chest and embracing her to calm down her breathing and relax her Body, as it usually worked.

"I... I think so...", She groaned. "Sorry you had to see that, Sweetie..."

"Hey, relax, okay? Don't you worry about me. Come on, I'll take you back to bed now and go look for a healer."

"Aang...", She shook her head. "It's the middle of the night, where would you possibly find a healer now? I'm fine now, all I need is some sleep."

He carefully swept her up in his arms and carried her back to their bed bridal style. "You just threw up for ten minutes straight, I'm worried about you, okay?"

She smiled warmly as he put her down onto the sheets of their bed and cupped his cheek with her hand. "Honey, I'm fine for tonight. I promise you I'll go to a healer first thing tomorrow morning, but I'm fine for now."

He looked into her deep blue, loving eyes with a glare of sorrow in his glance. "Fine." He took a glass from their nighttable and bend some water out of thin air. "Drink up and I'll leave you alone for tonight. I promise." He managed to smile at her, the first time since he was awoken by his sick wife only a few minutes ago.

After drinking the whole glass in a matter of seconds, yet denying any more, he covered her deeply in blankets, laying down next to her. "Are you sure you're alright, sweetie?", He whispered, as he took her hand between both of his and exchanging loving, yet sorrowful glances. She chuckled lightly.

"Yes, Aang. Please trust me, I'm fine."

"Okay", He whispered, "sorry, I can't handle to see you that way... I love you way too much to see you in pain."

"It's alright, Aang.", She whispered as she squeezed his hand. "I'll be fine, I promise." 

In silence, he kissed her forehead before trying to go to sleep. "Okay. I believe you."

\---

Even as Katara left the healer's office the next morning in shock, she was still unsure if her perception of reality was the right one. She couldn't stop grinning, no matter how hard she tried to supress it, calm down and breathe regularly. This was way too much. Too much excitement, too much joy. Her hands wandered above her abdomen all the time, holding and caressing the skin of her own stomach. "H...hey there, little one...", She whispered to the direction of her lower body as she sat down in one of the many parks the upper ring of Ba Sing Se. It was still very early in the morning, so almost no one was on the streets of the city.

"It's Mommy. I guess you don't know me yet... But I'm the one carrying you around. You have no idea how happy I am that you're finally here. Well, you're not here yet, but... you know what I mean, right? I love you already. And Daddy will love you, too. I promise."

She interrupted the "conversation" she was having with her own thoughts. "He... He will, right? Shoot, how should I tell him?" She buried her face in her hands and thought intensely. This was super important, maybe the most important thing she ever had to tell him. Deep down she was absolutly sure that he would be as Happy as she was, perhaps even more, but what if not? What if she got him on the wrong foot or what if he became upset or frightened or even angry?

She had no other choice, and she was sure that he would love the news. Of course he would. The closer she got to their appartment, the the more impatient she grew. She couldn't wait any longer. Her pace rose from minute to minute. Walking became Jogging, jogging became running, running became sprinting. She forgot the world all around her. Her only mission now was to get back to her husband as fast as possible.

"AAANG!", she screamed, still a few hundred yards away from their appartment. "AAAAANG!", her voice was hoarse from screaming but she didn't care. Their door flung open as she was about to enter their property. The Avatar ran outside, into her direction, watching her sprint directly into him with tears in her eyes, screaming his name. His pulse rose and bad thoughts began to fill his mind. Oh Spirits, what did the healer tell her... "Katara!", he exclaimed, completely overwhelmed by her unusually spectacular arrival. "Aang...", She only managed to mumble as she practically threw herself at him, kissing him long and passionately while tears ran down her cheeks.

"Katara...", He somehow managed to stutter, now completely confused by everything she did and said, or rather didn't say right now. "What... What is it? What's going on?" Even though she was crying, she grinned at him with a love in her glance that he had seen only once so far, and that was on their wedding day. He was really, really confused at that moment.

"S...sweetie...", She murmured as she hugged him as tightly as one could possibly can. "I'm not sick..."

His eyes lightened up. That was good news, indeed. But enough to justify her being that ecstatic?

"You... You're not? That's gr..."

She couldn't help but giggle as she shushed him with another quick, but passionate kiss on the lips. He was so cute when he had no idea what was going on.

"No, Aang. But there was another reason I felt so sick yesterday..."

He needed a quick second to process what he had just heared. You could hear the gears click inside and see a tiny lightbulb above his head light as he unterstood what she was about to tell him. His eyes opened as wide as they possibly could in realization and his jaw dropped to the floor. "No way!", He laughed, still in shock, as his wife nodded in confirmation.

"Yes, sweetie. We're... we're having a baby...", She finally told him with tears of joys in her eyes, cupping his cheek with her own hand. Her loving glance met his and even he began to cry tears of joy as realization finally hit him. His legs gave in and he drew her with him to the floor, hugging her as close as they could, kissing her passionately before parting their lips in desperate need of oxygen. They both brimmed with joy as they began to realize more and more what was happening right now.

"You...you're gonna be a Mommy, Katara...", He stuttered, still completely out of his mind. She nodded in response as they rested their foreheads against each other while holding each other's hands. "And you're gonna be a Daddy, Aang."

"This... This is too much, Katara... I can't handle so much Joy. You literally drown me in happiness, sweetie.", He chuckled.

"I knew you would be happy to hear..."

"Happy? Sweetie, this... You have no idea what this means to me..."

She grinned at him. "Sweetie. It's gonna be my baby, too. I think I know what that means to you."

He couldn't help but draw her into a Close, intimate, loving hug again, resting his head on her shoulder, whispering right into her ear.

"I love you, Katara. I can't tell you enough. There are no words to tell you how I feel. You are my world, sweetie, you're all that matters to me. And now you're giving me the most beautiful, most precious gift anyone could ever give to me. I love you so, so much." He sobbed emotionally. "And I promise by my Life as the Avatar that I will be there for you whenever you need me. I will take good care for you two, I..."

She shushed him again with a heartfelt, sweet and tender kiss. "I know, Aang. You don't have to tell me. I know you will."


	5. Jealousy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! This one takes place at/ after a specific moment in “The Promise”, the first graphic novel; if you haven’t read it, here’s some context (no spoilers, of course):
> 
> Aang and Katara had spent the night in the Clubhouse of the “Avatar Aang Fan Club”, a group of pretty superficial fangirls. There Aang kinda neglects Katara because he’s so overwhelmed by the girls’ interest in his air nomad culture and they have a lot of fun without Katara (who’s bored out of her mind). The next morning they leave and the following conversation takes place (until a certain point however, I kinda took over at said point :D) Have fun! ;)

“Well, you certainly seemed to enjoy those girls’ attention.” I was pretty mad at him, which was a rather rare occasion. How could he ditch me like that for a whole night to spend time with those… Fangirls?! And why didn’t he introduce me as his girlfriend at first? And after Momo? Sometimes… sometimes I doubted if I was still as important to him as I used to be.

“Weren’t they amazing?”, he fancied with a grin on his face. Was he being serious?

“I know it’s just a silly Fan club, but for a moment there, it almost felt like… like I was at home again. With my people.” His grin slowly faded out and turned into an embarassed smile, looking to the ground.

I felt so stupid the moment he ended his last sentence. I should’ve known this wasn’t about the girls. It was about his culture and people finally appreciating it.

“Thanks for agreeing to stay there for the night, sweetie. It meant the world to me.”

Now I didn’t just feel stupid, I also felt guilty now. How could I have thought something like that? How could I be so jealous?

“Don’t thank me, Aang.”, I murmured ashamed of myself, “I don’t deserve it.”

“Don’t say that.”, He whispered as he caught up to me, took my hands in his own, stopped me and smiled fondly. “You deserve everything and so much more.”, He added with a light blush. It was me who didn’t deserve him. He was so… kind and pure, and I behaved like a six year old who got her candy taken away.

“You know, for a moment there I thought… Well… That you liked those girls more than me. I know it’s stupid and selfish and…”

“Sweetie…”, His eyes opened wide and his grip on my hands tightened a bit, but not uncomfortably. “I’m so stupid. I neglected you… I should’ve known better.”

“Aang, you did nothing wrong, really. You being the Avatar can just sometimes be difficult… People will always fall for you, sometimes because of the person you are, sometimes because of the things you have done for this world. I will have to find a way to fight my stupid jealousy.”

“Nonetheless I made you feel unwanted. So let me tell you one thing, Katara, I Just wanna be sure that you know how I feel.”, he gently caressed the backs of my hands with his thumbs while his eyes locked on mine while he spoke to me with great sencerity in his voice.

“I’m sorry if I mess things up from time to time or if I forget about you. The last thing I want is to make you feel neglected or unappreciated, let alone hurt you. Yeah, those girls were nice, and you know I love and value all living things, but please believe me, when I say, that the personal affection I felt for them or that I could feel for anyone else is in no way comparable to the way I feel about you. Katara, as far as I can tell right now, and I don’t think this will ever change, you are the love of my life.”

“Aang…”, I only managed to croak while my eyes were slowly filling with tears while he only smiled at me with pride and love. I could feel it.

“You are the best thing that ever happened to me. I value your life higher than my own and I would do everything to see you smile when you’re upset. You are my whole world. I would never, ever prefer anyone over you, because I know for sure that you’re the only person in this world who I could truly love. We’re meant to be together and some stupid fangirls won’t ever come between us.”

He rested his forehead against mine after he had finished to speak. Tears were trailing down my cheeks and we both closed our eyes. Then I couldn’t fight the urge to giggle. I opened my eyes again and pressed a short kiss on his cheek. “Sweetie, that was incredibly cheesy.”

He chuckled, too. “Sorry.”

“No, that was a compliment. I love cheesy. And I love you. I know you wouldn’t choose somebody completely random over me because of their looks.” I kissed him again, for real this time. It was an intense kiss, full of passion and emotions, while my hands grabbed his neck and his arms hugged my waist to pull me closer to him. We stood there for a while kissing, and after we were done, we still stood there, hugging and simply enjoying each other’s presence while I rested my head on the Avatar’s chest.

My Avatar’s chest.


	6. North and South

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one takes place after the last scene of the last graphic novel. Some context again, if you haven’t read it: The whole book is pretty much about the conflict between progress and tradition. A bad guy named Gilak is defeated in the end and there is a big feast where everyone has fun. This is where this story swoops in :D A That one's a bit longer ;) Enjoy!

We’ve spent the whole evening sitting around the fire in gran-grans igloo, eating and chatting in a cheerish manner. It was a blissful evening after some really rough days; but Gilak had been defeated and balance had been restored to the south pole - for now.

The hours passed and from time to time, more and more people left to go to sleep, such as our hostess gran-gran and her husband and my former waterbending master Pakku. My subsequent waterbending teacher however was there too, showing quite a bit more affection towards me than Pakku; Katara sat next to me, held my hand uninterruptedly, snuggling closer and closer into my side, the later it became. She was gorgeous when she was asleep, I mean, she was gorgeous all the time and I have no idea how I deserved someone as great and beautiful as Katara, but seeing her sleep emitted an aura of calmness and peace I’ve never seen anywhere else.

 

It was about midnight, and the only people who were still sitting around the campfire were Me obviously, Katara, who had fallen asleep a while ago with her head resting on my lap, Sokka and Toph who were asleep as well, and Chief Hakoda. He has had a pretty intense conversation with Zuko and the earth king about their cooperation in the near Future, and even though it was a really interesting topic to talk about and kinda my job as the Avatar, I wasn’t able to focus on what they were saying with the love of my life resting her sleepy head onto my body. From time to time I would touch her face and caress her soft skin with my fingers, or stroke through her hair quite gently. Of course I was tremendously careful with not overdoing it- the last thing I wanted was to wake her up now, so I spent most of the time just watching her sleep peacefully.

After everyone else had left, the igloo became awfully quiet so that I was able to hear Katara’s breating and gentle snoring without much effort. I didn’t want the Situation to become awkward; it must be a strange view to watch your daughter’s boyfriend watching your daughter sleep. But it didn’t even seem that his attention was on us, or rather me, but on his thoughts. He rubbed his forehead, making an exhausted facial expression. I wanted to help him. And to disrupt the awful silence that seemed to grow more and more for each passing second.

“Chief Hakoda”, I said. “What’s wrong?”

He just shook his head. “Outside.”, He whispered, first pointing at his daughter, than to the door of the igloo. I nodded and he stood up to leave. This was a tricky situation. If I moved too much, she would wake up. Then I got an idea. I lifted up her shoulders and her head with extreme caution, bending a cushion out of thin air to rest her head on, which allowed me to withdraw from under her, replacing the air cushion with a real one and tossing a sabretooth-snow leopard fur over her to keep her warm, even though I hated animal skins. She instinctively tugged herself in in her sleep and I couldn’t help but smile, kneel down before her and kiss her forehead before standing up again, leaving the igloo’s inside and my sleeping beauty behind.

Outside, everything was as silent as it was inside, not one person screaming, not one lonely wolfbat howling to the moon, nothing. Hakoda stood there in the middle of the street, watching me clearly in the eye as he confessed to me:

“Avatar Aang… I’m scared.”

“What is it, Chief Hakoda?”, I responded quietly, honestly surprised by hearing Hakoda, one great warrior, saying something like that.

“What will the future hold for us? You’re the master of balance, right?”

“Well…” It wasn’t that easy. “My task is to maintain balance in the world, yes.”

“So what shall I do now? Obviously I can’t deny the progress happening everywhere in world… And the change it brings with itself. But if I embrace it too much… Well, we saw what would happen. Gilak was just a pawn in a giant game of ideology. But if I denied it, all of it, and returned to the style of living from before the war… Well, soon there wouldn’t be a tribe to lead anymore. We would live in the shadows of the other nations, irrelevant and completely forgotten one day. I Just… Please, Aang. Help me.”

This was a really tough question and there was no perfect answer for it, that was for sure.

“Hakoda…”, I said, “there’s a dark and a bright side to all of this. The dark side is that there is not a solution to all of this that will make everybody happy. Yes, there will always be people like Gulik who have a craving for nostalgia, and there will always be the risk of being crushed by the changing world if you’re not willing to change with it. But the bright side…”, I stopped for a second to get the words into the right order in my head, “the bright side is that there doesn’t have to be a perfect solution for any of this. But you can at least try your very best to keep progress and tradition in balance. I mean, Sokka and Katara, your own children, have completely different views of the world and come along amazingly- because they balance each other out, living in… Well, almost, perfect harmony. That’s the key, Hakoda. Balance. I understand better than anyone else that maintaining balance can be breathtakingly difficult to almost impossible from time to time, believe me. At least if you try it on your own. But you’re not alone. You have world’s most amazing children, you have Malina, you have your tribe’s loyality…. And you have me, Hakoda. The Avatar will be there if you ever need me, I promise.”, I finished, bowing down, showing my respect and how serious I was about promises like that.

He looked me straight into the eye and I could feel… relief spreading out inside of him. “Thank you, Aang.”, He whispered as he came closer to me and drew me into a hug which caught me by surprise.

“You’re very welcome, Chief Hakoda.”

He loosened up on me, laughed and held me by the shoulders. “How many times do I have to tell you? Just call me Hakoda, Aang.”

I blushed a bit. “Yeah, sorry, Hakoda.”

“But don’t get too much used to it.”

That was confusing. “Hm? Why?”

“Come with me, Aang. Let’s talk about something else.” He roamed through the streets in a slow temper and I walked next to him as he continued to talk. It was pitch black out here at this time of the night.

“I can feel it, you know? I can see how much you love her, Aang. Call it fatherly Intuition, but I guess even your friend Toph could see that you love my daughter from all of your heart.”

Now I blushed a lot. “Yeah… I guess I really do.”

“And I know for sure that she loves you in the same way. The sparkle in her eyes when she saw Appa in the sky told me everything I had to know. But I guess you already know that, too.”

“I… I think so, yes. I can feel it too. Sometimes I wonder why though.”

He suddenly stopped and turned to face me. “You wonder why? Aang, I’ve known my little girl longer than anyone else and I know why she loves you so much. You’re everything she ever dreamed of. You’re sweet and loving and caring. Just like she is. But you’re also mysterious and so incredibly wise and powerful. You’re the Avatar and you’re something special, and I know that she realized that the day she freed you from the iceberg. That’s why she loves you so much, Aang. And that’s why you love her so much. It was destiny that she would save you from the iceberg and that you would save her by helping her unfold her full potential.”

His words made me feel warm and comfy inside. God, I really loved her. There was no doubt. Not the slightest.

“That’s what I meant in the beginning, Aang. Don’t get used to call me Hakoda. One day… Well, on day you will call me Dad.”

I was barely breathing. “What… What are you saying?”

“I want you to know that, if, or rather when, you’re going to marry my daughter, you have, and you will always have my support and my blessing.”, He ended with a smile of pride.

I was in no condition to speak. Marrying… Marrying Katara. It was unbelievable. Too great to even think of. “Hakoda… Dad… I… I this is way too much… Thank you. This is probably one of the best things anyone ever said to me.”

“However… there is one condition. She is my daughter and you being the Avatar and all could make things a bit more complicated, I’m sure you’ll understand this. I know, you would never, ever Intentionally get her hurt, Aang.”

“I… I would rather take my own life than to hurt her, Sir.”, I stated coldly.

He nodded. “I know that. But you’re the Avatar. You getting into trouble is kind of your duty to the whole world. I know I can’t ask you to let go of everything dangerous in your life, it would tear you apart. All I want is Katara to be safe. So do you promise me to do keep her safe at all times when she’s with you, Aang?”

I gulped and nodded. “I will. I promise you, I will. I will do whatever it takes to protect her. Without her, I… I couldn’t live. Even if it means to bring the whole world in danger… again… even if I have to give up my inner priciples… I love your daughter more than anything, Hakoda. I would sacrifice it all, if necessary.”

He simply smiled at me and hugged me one last time. “Welcome to the family, son.”

When I finally reached gran gran’s igloo again, even sleeping Sokka and Toph had disappeared; the only person lying there was my beautiful girlfriend. It had become really late now, the walk with Hakoda took a while, so maybe it was a good idea to get some sleep. I couldn’t help but smile at the incredibly heartwarming sight of my forever girl laying there curled up in thick layers of fur. Should I try to pick her up and bring her to her father’s house so we would have it more comfortable? I decided against it; she would wake up as soon as we left the house.

I knelt down before her, watching her sleep peacefully. A dark blush rose up to my cheeks as I recalled Hakoda’s words. Some day in the future, not too far away though, I would propose to her and make her my wife. Nothing in the whole world could ever make me happier. I just had to touch her now. Feel her soft, dark skin under my fingers. Very carefully, as not to wake her up, I caressed her cheek with the pad of my thumb. I could’ve done this all night- just sitting there, watching her sleep and touch her from time to time. I still couldn’t believe how I deserved someone so beautiful and sweet like her.

“Aang?”, She munbled half asleep after one of her eyes fluttered open, only to be closed again. “Katara, I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to wake you. Go back to sleep.” Blindly she took my hand that was still hovering above her face, kissed the back of my hand for a second and cupped her cheek with it again. Her beautiful blue eyes opened again, only a bit though. She was still pretty damn tired. “Can’t. Unless you join me.”, she mumbled while smiling at me absently, yet lovingly.

I couldn’t help but grin, nodded and kissed her forehead. “Let me just change real quick.”

After changing into something a bit more comfortable, I lay down behind her, tugged myself under the animal pelts (even though I didn’t like the feeling, but for Katara I would endure everything) gently touching her back with my upper body. I wanted to give her some space, but my sleepy girlfriend seemed to like me close by her side, and I’d be the last to complain about that. She mumbled something incomprehensible in her sleep, fumbling behind her back to take my hand, leading it to her front body and placing it on her stomach area before snuggling closer into me. I felt like in heaven. I felt her body pressing against mine everywhere, I Heard nothing but her steady breathing and smelled the scent of her hair. There was no better place to fall asleep. In the whole world. Seriously.

Suddenly, she mumbled one last thing before I could feel her drift of to sleep completely. “IloveyouAang.”, she mumbled, with a sigh of relief and relaxation after feeling my body snuggle closely against her’s. It made me blush pretty damn hard, good thing she couldn’t see me right now, and made me feel incredibly warm and happy. I only smiled and kissed her neck one last time before falling to sleep, too. “I love you too, Katara. More than you could ever know.”


	7. Aftermath

It was amazing. Beautiful. The best thing in the world.

There had been so much pain. So much angst, so much screaming. So many tears. Now there were tears too, of course, but now they were the good kind of tears. Tears of love and hope.

He was sitting on the edge of his sleeping wife’s bed, watching the both of them sleep peacefully. Her and the small bundle of joy that she was holding in her arms. Her newborn son. Their newborn son. He didn’t leave her side since she gave birth to their son not two days ago. He was just sitting there by her side, kissed her, held her hand and told her over and over again how much he loved her and Bumi, their infant son. The king of omashu, after whom he was named, a close friend and ally of them had passed away only a few days before Katara went into labour. And with quite some hair sticking out haphazardly as he left his mother’s womb, he kinda reminded them of the mad genius, despite the obvious fact that he was a newborn baby, and therefore really handsome and cute.

Aang hadn’t been able to turn off his loving smile as he watched his small family sleep calmly. He had no words to descripe the pure feeling of bliss and happiness that he had felt since he had held his own son in his arms for the first time.

Katara was fast asleep; Bumi however seemed to be waking up, which his caring father couldn’t help but notice. Bumi’s whimpering slowly became louder, so he got up and took him out of his sleeping mother’s arms with extreme caution. Katara however somehow noticed, slowly opening her sleepy eyes. She would be a great mother. Her Intuition was amazingly strong, already.

He smiled at her and gently kissed her forehead. “Go back to sleep, Sweetie. I got him.”, He whispered as not to awake her even more.

She nodded and kissed him weakly before going back to sleep, still completely exhausted by the process of childbirth. “Thanks, Sweetie.” It had been way, way harder than she had imagined, but it had already been worth every contraction, every impusle of pain that had been shooting through her body systematically for more than 12 hours straight. She just needed some rest, that was all. And if Aang could help her with that, he was happy to oblige.

Little Bumi grizzled while his proud father held him in his arms, rocking him back and forth oh so slowly to calm him down and get him in a sleepy mood again. They slowly wandered through the southern air temple’s infirmary rooms. It was the middle of the night, no, almost sunrise, so he got an idea and went for the balcony, sitting down against the outer stone wall of the infirmary. The view was amazing; they could overview the whole southern air temple archipelago from up here. It reminded Aang of the great childhood he had spent here; He still couldn’t believe that the tiny creature he was holding in his own arms was indeed his son. “Maybe”, Aang whispered to the sleepy little boy in his arms, “maybe this will all be yours, one day. Maybe you will be the next airbender. Maybe… You will continue my culture. But no matter what…”, he smiled while a tear ran down his cheek, holding the baby in his arms closer, yet still tremendously careful as not to hurt the tiny life. “…no matter what, my son. I will always love you. You and your mother, you are the centre of my life, and nothing shall ever come between us, alright Buddy?” The only response he got was a bunch of childish sounds in baby language. Aang smiled. They understood each other no matter what.

“Hey guys, mind if I join you?”

Aang was kinda ripped out of their conversation as he quickly turned his head to the hollow doorway to the balcony, seeing no one other than his Brother-in-law standing there.

“Sokka!”, Aang stood up as quickly as he could without risking to bring Bumi in an umcomfortable position, smiling warmly at his best friend. “You finally made it!”, Aang whispered as not to wake him up. “I think there is someone who wants to meet you… Sokka, say hello to your nephew Bumi. Bumi, say hello to your uncle Sokka…”

For a moment, Sokka was speechless, which was an incredibly rare occasion. As Aang slowly turned his son to give the tiny bundle into his Brother-in-law’s arms, Sokka simply gulped and whispered. “Aang… That’s just… Wow. Congratulations, seriously.” Aang simply nodded, graceful, before Sokka took a closer look at his nephew, and cautiously tickled his chest with his finger, to which Bumi responded with a soft burp and a giggly sound. “Well hello there, big guy, I’m your uncle Sokka. One day I’ll teach you how to use a boomerang, aaand tell the funniest jokes aaaand how to get all the Ladies…” He was interrupted by Aang sarcastically clearing his throat, offering him a seat next to him. Not too quickly of course, they sat down next to the Avatar.

“Okay, okay. I guess your parents can teach you pretty cool stuff, too. They’re my sister and my best friend, after all.” He grinned at Aang, who returned the smile.

“No, seriously, Aang. I’m so happy for you guys… You really deserve this and I have no doubt that you will be outstanding parents.”

“Thanks, Sokka. I appreciate that.” Sokka offered him Bumi again and Aang instantly took his son back into the warm, cuddly protectiveness of his arms, even though it was of course not the same as his mother’s bosom.

“Aang, there’s this other thing. I want to make a long overdue apology to you.”

Aang was surprised. “You’re Apologizing? What for?”

“For… Everything. I mean, I’ve been kind of an ass to you and my sister every time you showed some affection for each other. And when you got married, I… I kinda felt like I was left out. You two… You three are a family now, you know? There’s no more room for creepy uncle Sokka anymore.”, He added with a sad Expression. “And I completely understand. And when you told me that you got her pregnant… My sister… My little sister… I kinda snapped. I’m so sorry Aang. You didn’t deserve any of this. I know this comes months too late, but I guess I just can’t turn back time. I see now how happy you are with each other, and If you want me to be around for big guy here…”, He shortly drifted off into baby speak again, “I’ll be there.”

“Oh Sokka…”, Aang simply whispered with a gentle tone in his voice, “of course we want you around! You’re his uncle! And besides that, you’re my best friend- and Family. I didn’t know you felt so guilty. Don’t worry, seriously, everything’s fine between the both of us.” He padded his shoulder with his free hand. “I don’t know how I would react if my best friend would tell me that he got my little sister pregnant…”, He chuckled lightly. “But let’s not get into detail here…you know?”

Sokka smiled. “Yeah. Good idea. Thanks, Aang.”

“No Problem, buddy.” They sat there silently for the next few minutes, watching the sun rise and listening to little Bumi’s grunting baby noises. All of the sudden, Sokka could hear Aang sob silently.

“Everything alright, Aang?”

The Avatar nodded. “Yeah. This is just so much to process… I mean, it feels like only months ago that you two freed me from the ice, and now I’m holding my own son in my arms. It’s just incredible.”

“I guess you’re right. But I just wanna let you know, if you and my sister will ever need some time for yourselves, Suki and I would be honored if you dropped him off at our place. He will be some good practice for what’ll be coming to us too, eventually.”

“I really appreciate the offer, Sokka. We’ll keep it in mind, I promise.”

Aang couldn’t let his eyes off of the little bundle of joy, the pure, innocent product of his love for Katara, that he was holding in his own arms. He loved the little guy from the bottom of his heart. Nonetheless, the baby boy needed his mother as well, and began to whine again, a bit louder than before.

“I bet he’s hungry…”, Aang mumbled.

“I guess that’s rather a job for Katara…?”, Sokka goofed.

“Yep. Come on, I guess you wanna talk to your sister, as well.” They got up pretty quickly and entered the infirmary again, to find Katara up again, sitting in her bed and stretching her arms in the direction of her husband and her infant son, smiling at them lovingly, but tiredly as well.

“Hey Sweetie. I guess he’s hungry again.”, Aang tried to fill her in, but she was one step ahead of him with her motherly intuition. He climbed into bed next to her, kissed her forehead and carefully reunited their son with his mother. She grinned as she also discovered her brother standing in the doorframe to the balcony. She quickly kissed her husband to greet him before grinning at her brother. “Who’re you talking about, Sweetie? Our sweet, little guy here, or our big hog standing right there?”

They all had a quick laugh together before Sokka went a few steps towards the Avatar-family bed and smiled happily at his sister and her new family. “Hey, Sis. You alright?” In his opinion, she looked still very exhausted, had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was all over the place. But at the same time, when her eyes wandered to the little life she was holding in her arms, she looked so incredibly happy. Happier than he had ever seen her before.

She nodded while smiling at her brother. “Even better. You did get to meet your nephew, right?”

“Yep, Aang introduced us to each other. We… OOGIE!” Sokka quickly interrupted himself and turned around, jamming his eyes close to avoid seeing his sister exposing her breast to feed her hungry newborn.

“Oh Sokka, grow up.”, she rolled her eyes, still couldn’t help but laugh.

Maybe some things would never change.

And maybe it was good that way.


	8. Sunset in the eyes of a dragon

He remembered the last time he stood here, in this exact spot, about 5 years ago. He liked to remember this day. Who was he kidding? He loved to remember that day for it was one of the best in all of his young life so far. It was here were he and Katara shared their first long, passionate kiss that started their relationship. And it seemed to work better every day. They were a great team and an even greater couple, and they loved each other with all their hearts.

And now, as he stood there and thought about everything that had happened and that may happen soon, he got pretty excited- and pretty nervous, too. All of this, all the amazing Moments they had shared so far, all their touches, kisses, all their feelings, everything culminated in today. Today was a special day. Today was the day he would pluck up the courage to finally ask the love of his life to become his wife.

After watching the sunset from the big open patio in front of the Jasmine Dragon tea house for quite some time, he took out the traditional water tribe betrothal necklace he had carved for her to check it for the hundreth time today if it was still intact. Fortunately, it was. He had worked really hard on it to make it look beautiful and perfect in every way and one had to admit that was an excellently crafted piece of jewellery. 

Like every other betrothal necklace the fine piece of cloth to which the carved stone was attached was dark blue; unlike every other necklace the cloth was furnished with a special coating of an alchemistic substance that made it change its colour to a light tone of blue whenever it was exposed to sunlight.

And like every other necklace the medaillon attached to the cloth was carved out of a turquoise gemstone, similar to crystal. But unlike every other necklace it had a second medaillon attached to it: a transparent, very clear kind of crystal in which the symbol of air was carved in. If you held it against the sunlight, you could see the carving; but if you took both of the medaillons at the same time and held it against the sunlight, you could see both, the turquoise symbol for water and the symbol for air very clearly and how they worked really well together. Most of the carved lines matched perfectly and even If they didn't, it still managed to emmit a sense of balance and harmony. How was it possible that he had thought one day that harmony was something that needed separation to work?

He was really proud of the result of his hard work. It was worth all the carving lessons, all the careful work with alchemistic substances and fragile crystals. He couldn't wait to give it to her, to finally propose to the girl of his dreams. He just prayed to the spirits that she would say yes.

As if he had called out for her, he heard footsteps coming closer to him from behind his back. Carefully as not to raise suspicion he took the necklace back into the interior pocket of the fine jacket he had worn for today.

"Everything alright, sweetie?", the soft voice he loved so much sounded in his ears and wandered right down to his chest, softening his heart. How was it possible to love someone so much?

He simply nodded and kissed her cheek to greet her. "Yes, sweetie. I'm just... Thinking a lot lately."

She turned so that she could face him, giving him a small tin cup filled with hot, steaming tea she brought from inside. "Here, I brought you this. Jasmine, just how you like it. So what's on your mind? Do you wanna talk about it?", She asked with yet a bit of concern in her voice, cupping his cheek with her hand, smiling comfortingly. She was always so caring.

"Thanks, sweetie." He took the cup. "It's kinda stupid."

"I bet it's not."

"It may sound weird, but... Could you tell me about the relationship between your parents?", He asked timidly.

She looked pretty confused at first, but answered right away. "Well... My Mom and my Dad really loved each other. Mom always took good care of us while Dad was away with the other men, training for war, so he wasn't around all the time. But when he was there, we had mostly had great times as a family, but when I was supposed to be asleep in the middle of the night I sometimes woke up and was able to listen about what they told each other and how they behaved. They seemed really happy in moments like these, when they were for themselves, against all odds of the upcoming war. And as... as my mom had passed away, Dad wasn't the cheerful, always positive family man he used to be any more. He was devastated and grief-stricken and blamed himself for not being able to protect her properly." Even though it all had happened years ago, the memories of that time weighed heavy on her shoulders.

Her boyfriend hugged her tightly, softly kissing her cheek. "That's what I was afraid would happen. I'm sorry, Katara. But thank you for sharing that with me."

"It's alright", she mumbled against his shoulder, eyes closed. "You're a pretty good comforter. But why did you ask in the first place?"

"Well, you know... I never had parents of my own. I was never exposed to seeing other people's romantic feelings. It wasn't even a topic one would adress among a society of monks. I never really knew what love felt like. I mean, Monk Gyatso loved me like a father loved his child, but I had never even seen romantic love, let alone felt. Until... Well, until the first thing I've seen for a hundred years was the most beautiful face in the whole world." He grinned at her and rested his forehead against her's. "But from then on you know the story pretty much as well as I do.", He added sheepishly. 

"I guess I do.", She whispered, grinning, giving him a short kiss on the lips. 

"How did I deserve that?", He murmured, lost in a tangle of thoughts and feelings. He wanted, no, He needed to ask her now. If he waited any longer he would collapse.

"Just for being you.", She grinned before her face turned severe again as she recogniced his intense expression. "Aang, Sweetie, I know you've got something on your mind. Please tell me, I'm getting kinda worried when you're so quiet and absent." She loosened a bit from him to give him space, keeping body contact however by holding both of his hands in her own.

"And... When did your Dad know that he and your Mom would be destined to stay together for the Rest of their lives?", He whispered, obviously still trapped inside the tiny world within his head.

"Dad always used to tell me that he knew he loved my Mom from the day they'd met. That one day he would marry her and have children with her. He knew that it was their destiny to fall in love with each other from the very beginning."

That was it. Now he had his chance. "Oh Spirits", He called within his head, "let her say yes." She had to. He took a deep breath and tried his best to smile with all of his confidence he drew from all the great memories they had together.

"Katara, I... I love you. I used to wake up in the morning, wondering about love, and for years now I'm waking up next to you, and everytime I see you I know the answer. You saved my life by freeing me from the iceberg. But more than that. You... You truly freed me. In every possible way. I wouldn't be the man, let alone the Avatar I am today without you. And I possibly couldn't be nearly as happy as I am today without you. I love you more than anything, Katara. You're so incredibly beautiful and strong and loving and great... I couldn't stop falling in love with you all over again every time I saw you, even if I wanted to.", He poured out all the contents of his heart while she just stood there, holding his hands soaking in every word he said, listening carefully while not breaking eye contact. Her mouth slowly opened as she seemed to begin to realize where he was going. She started panting and her heart bumped against her chest. He wouldn't. Would he...?

"You are the only thing in this world that I did ever love and I'm sure, oh so sure that there is no one who could ever come close to the way I love you. I hope from all of my heart that you feel the same way, sweetie..." His heart felt like it would explode soon. She had to say yes. She just had to.

"That being said...", He took one final deep breath and went down on one knee in front of her, ripping out all the confidence left in his body after his confession. He switched the Position of his hands so that he was holding her palms in his hands, looked her as deeply in the eyes as he possibly could, smiling, speaking clearly and sincerely.

"Katara from the southern water Tribe, love of my life, will you make me the happiest man in the four nations by becoming my lawfully wedded wife?"

The first thing he felt after it was finally said, was relief. He did it. He finally did it. The second thing was pure panic. What if she said no? What if she laughed at him for his really, really sappy confession of love? The third thing was impatience. He had finished his proposal not half a second ago but it felt like hours already.

Please say yes...

The first thing he saw then was her dropping on his level after her legs had given in, being jittery like jelly now. And the next thing he felt was wetness. Wet Kisses, wet tears. Her face was streaked with tears of joy and she couldn't stop crying. It was far too good to be true. It was as if her greatest wish was granted, as if a huge weight, the fear of ever being alone was lifted off her shoulders. 

Her hands grabbed for his neck and her lips tried desperately to process and transport all her feelings to her future husband now, but failed miserably at doing so. There was too much love and affection and too less time and gestures in the whole world to show him the depthness of her feelings for him.

She wasn't even able to talk, she just howled out all of her relief into their long overdue, emotional, passionate, proposal kiss. She could barely nod to symbolize him her answer but she was pretty sure he got the right idea.

Aang couldn't help but cry one or two tears of relief, too. It was done. It was finally done.

After two or there minutes of uninterrupted kissing, they somehow managed to seperate their lips from each other, resting their foreheads against each other's again, looking into their swollen, red eyes filled with tears of joy and realization, holding each other's neck or cheek. Then they began to laugh simultaneously. "Oh Aang...", She managed to belch out between two louder sobs mixed with giggles. "Yes. Oh spirits, yes. A thousand times yes... For now and for ever." He laughed, too, as he processed the words she had finally spoken whilst trying to get his stomach under control, spreading havoc within his own self. He played with her hair while watching her just sitting there in front of him like a pile of molten jelly, wax in his arms. She grinned more happily than he had anyone ever seen before and the twinkle of deep, pure love in her eyes gave her completely away. He drew herself in a tight, tight hug, leaving no space between the both of them whatsoever, Not even a leaf would have fit between them. His lips fondly kissed her neck and collarbone and he began to breathe calmly again, getting a first clear thought again. "I love you, Katara... I love you more than you will ever know."

"I love you too, Aang. More than anything." Now they just sat there and hugged, finally, after minutes and minutes of crying, kissing and laughing, they managed to get a grip on reality yet again. Body functions and Displays of affection slowly returning to an at least kinda normal pace. Now they just sat across from each other, smiling and still brimming with love and happiness. All they did was holding each other's hands and still it felt so incredibly intimate in that exact moment. They literally couldn't be happier. It was not possible.

"I still can't believe it", she mumbled with cheeks as red as fire. "You finally did it."

"What, did you want me to propose earlier?", He sounded kinda surprised. He thought he was still pretty young with his 17 years to marry, but on the other hand she was nineteen and it was custom in the water tribes to marry in the age of 16.

"No, of course not, sweetie. I was absolutely fine with how our relationship worked before, but this... I couldn't be any happier right now."

His eyes widened with realization. "Monkey feathers! I'm so damn stupid... I'm forgetting the last piece to make it official." He grabbed inside the pocket of his chic Jacket. "Katara, you know how much I value custom and tradition. It would be disrispectful to take you from your tribe without even dignifying your own culture. So I tried my very best to create a token of my love consonant with the habits of your culture." He grinned as he spread the cloth across his palms, openly presenting it for her to take. "I hope you like it.'

"Aang, first of all, you're not taking me from anyone, and second you didn't have to... Woah..." It was this moment that her eyes let go of him, only to get stuck on the necklace he had personally crafted for her. "Aang... It's... beautiful! How..." She finally touched it. "How did you do this?"

He grinned and scratched his neck. "Well... A lot of practice and a little bit of help."

"Wait, are those... Two crystals?"

He nodded and explained his thoughts. "Yeah. I wanted it to be really special. And since there weren't any inter-national marriages between water tribes and earth kingdom or fire nation for a long time, this was never a thing. So, to symbolize that I'm as much yours as you are mine I eternalized the both of us, air and water together. Plus, if you hold both of them together against the sunlight, the carvings overlap and an even more beautiful pattern occures."

"This is amazing, Aang. I don't think that anyone has ever given this so much thought and passion as you did. Just... For me?"

He couldn't help but chuckle lightly, kissing her forehead. "Sweetie, I hope that I made myself clear by now. I would do anything for you."

"I know... You always did.", she said, smiling at him with loving eyes. Now she took the necklace, getting ready to putting it on around her neck. He stopped her by gently taking her by her wrist. "Wait. There's one more special thing about it." He let go of her wrist and snapped with his fingers so that a small flame ascended from the tip of his finger.

"Be careful! You're burning it!"

He grinned nonchalantly. "Don't worry. It won't."

In fact, it didn't burn. But she studied closely what happened instead - the cloth started to change its color! It lightened up and spread across the whole piece of fabric until all of it was colored in a very light tone of blue now.

"Aang, what is that? How did you...?"

He smiled sheepishly. "Alchemy. But don't rack your brain about it. All it does is change its color whenever it's exposed to high temperatures. I want you to become part of my life and my culture now that you're getting married, but I would never, ever want you to leave your own culture behind. So I had this idea. I am yours and you are mine now. It's only fair if everyone gets their share."

She took his hands and kissed him for a few seconds again. "And together we will be our own little culture." He nodded agreeingly. "I can't wait to raise our children in the ways of both of our cultures." 

"It's gonna be awesome...", He laughed, and she joined in. She loved how he was always able to be so lighthearted, but not careless about everything.

"Now come, let me help you put that on." She nodded and turned around, splitting her long, brown, curly, wonderful hair so that he could see all of her neck. "Oh, should I take that off now?", She asked, a bit insecure of how to act now. Her mother's necklace was very important to her, but Aang... He was the real center of her life, now more than ever. But it was as if he had opened a window to her soul, knowing pretty well what was bugging her.

"Of course not, sweetie. Not unless you want to. I designed it so that you can wear both of them at the same time without one totally blocking out the other."

Spirits, he had thought of literally everything. She couldn't believe his thoughtfullness and his complete acceptance of her feelings. He probably would've accepted it too if she had decided to only wear her mother's necklace on her neck. But that was not at all what she had wanted. She wanted to present their betrothal proudly to the world. She wanted everyone to know that she was going to marry him.

"You're incredible, Aang. I'll wear it above my Mom's necklace."

"Are you sure? I'm not mad if you decide otherwise, I promise. I want you to feel comfortable."

She slowly turned around, faced him, smiled at him and put her hand on his cheek. "Sweetie. I'm sure. You're the center of my life. I couldn't be more comfortable than to let the whole world know. And my Mom's not gone. I still wear her necklace and that's all that matters to me."

He nodded. "Okay."

She kissed his cheek before turning around again. He cautiously wrapped the necklace around her neck and closed it on the backside before putting her hair into its original position again.

"It fits perfectly, Aang." She smiled and softly felt for the carved stones before quickly standing up and turning around. He got up, too, and inspected her neck. 

"So? How do I Iook?"

He grinned as he realized that he had a deja-vu.

"What, all of you or just your neck? Because both look great..." She got the reference to the early days they had experienced together immediately and began to laugh cheerfully before closing the distance to her future husband, hugging his neck with both her arms and looked at him with hungry, sexy eyes. "I think it looks great, too, Sweetie...", She whispered just before she kissed him again with all of her love and passion. His hands wandered to her waist, holding her and pressing her against him even tighter.

"Soon... We will finally... Be together...", she panted and her tone gave away that she personally wouldn't mind if it happened right now. She was ready, and he most probably, too. But they've waited so long. They would last the next few weeks, too, somehow. The night of their wedding would be their first special, magic moment. The final step of their union. 

He nodded. "I can't wait... But we have to."

She joined in. "I know. One more reason to look forward to our wedding day." She had gotten a grip on herself again and just stood there, cuddled against his chest, her head resting against his shoulder, tightly protected in his hug. "I still can't believe that I'm going to marry the Avatar...", She chuckled. "If my 12 year old me would've known that..."

"Oh come on, even your 12 year old self would've somehow sensed that you're my forever girl.", He laughed.

"Don't forget that I also used to be your teacher!", She whispered emotionally. "But I love you Aang. Thank you so much for everything. All of it."

"You deserve every little bit of it, and so much more. You are everything to me, and as long as you don't want me to, I'll never let you go. I love you and I always will."

The romantic moment lasted for another few minutes. There was barely any wind, the sun was almost completely gone by now and it was silent all around. It was perfect. As if their cosmos had shrinked until everything that was inside was just the two of them.

That was until the door flung open and Sokka marched outside. 

"Hey Jerks, whattaya doin'?"


End file.
